BALLERINI, PAOLO. - Archbishop of Milan, b. in Milan on 13 Jan. 1814, d. at Seregno in 1897. He studied in Vienna, where he took his doctorate in theology. Having returned to his native city, he taught theology at the Major Seminary, and became a canon of the Cathedral and vicar general of Archbishop Romilli, who found in him a faithful and scrupulous collaborator in the last years of his life. After Romilli's death, Francis Joseph proposed B. as titular of the archiepiscopal see of Milan, but B., taking into account the particular political circumstances, submitted his resignation to the emperor. Nevertheless Pius IX, in the Consistory of 20 June 1859, preconized B. as Archbishop of Milan. In 1860 the jurisdiction of the diocese was conferred on him by a special brief, and on the night of 8 Dec. B. was consecrated in the Charterhouse of Pavia by Msgr. Caccia, capitular vicar.
A tenacious opponent of the new civil authorities who sought to intervene in the appointment of ecclesiastical offices, B. was unable to take formal possession of the diocese, while the activity carried out by the vicar in defense of the rights of the Church was attributed by the anticlericals to him, because it was «a consequence of the machinations of the reactionary party led by B., the pseudo-archbishop». In the secret Consistory of 27 March 1867 Pius IX promoted B. to the titular patriarchal church of Alexandria in Egypt, while Msgr. Luigi Nazari di Calabiana was appointed Archbishop of Milan. B. lived in retirement, devoted to his studies; he published a new edition of the works of St. Ambrose (Milan 1875-83) in 6 vols.
Bibliography2 works
Silvio Furlani